


Goodbye My Only Friend

by L_Renee



Series: When Life Gives You Lemons [2]
Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Androids, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24922795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Renee/pseuds/L_Renee
Summary: Warning: contains spoilers for "I Prefer to Stay Inside". This is a midquel that takes place during "I Prefer to Stay Inside" and it is highly recommend you read the latter before this story for full context.An Aperture Science android stranded on the surface makes contact with a human.
Series: When Life Gives You Lemons [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803592
Kudos: 20





	Goodbye My Only Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Artwork: https://www.deviantart.com/lizzyrdraws/art/Space-Fic-Art-846813700

“Hurts,” the android muttered to no one in particular. He sat on the pavement, right arm hanging limp and useless at his side, and looked up to the sky. 

Too bright. His gaze returned to the ground. The android couldn’t see space during the day. No pretty night sky dotted with faraway stars and the constellations they painted across the horizon, to his disappointment. There was one star visible during the day, however--their very own sun, which he supposed was the prettiest star of all. How sad that he couldn’t look at it for long without risking damage to his optics. 

It’d been a few weeks now. Would anyone be coming? He wondered frequently, pacing the parking lot day and night. 

Weeks ago, he’d suddenly and unexpectedly plummeted from the sky, from space, back to Earth. His landing had smashed an impressive crater in someone’s abandoned parking space, shattered the mechanics in his arm, and otherwise scraped him up quite a bit. He’d had a friend in space; another android. He wasn’t sure where his friend had gone, just that said friend had done a lot of screaming on the way down to Earth. Friend had landed somewhere nearby, he’d thought, but a search turned up no trace of him. He knew enough to know he was near Aperture--home. As if missing his friend wasn’t enough, the doors were locked and wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t go home. He couldn’t go back to space. 

Thus, he found himself alone. 

“Hurts bad,” the android repeated, touching his broken arm with the opposite hand. He winced in pain. 

“Oh, dear. You certainly got into some trouble, didn’t you?” 

The android whirled around to locate the source of the unfamiliar voice, nearly toppling over onto his side. Behind him, just a few paces away, stood an elderly human and a rather disgruntled younger man. 

“Trouble?” the android repeated, confused. The old human slowly approached, and the android scooted backwards. 

“It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you,” the human said. He knelt down in front of the android and held out a hand. “May I see your arm?” 

The android made a face as if contemplating the request, and nodded. The human reached forward and gingerly took the android’s arm, inspecting the damage as carefully as possible. He let out a low whistle. 

“How’d you manage this, son? The damage you’ve got here is...extensive,” the human said. 

“Hurts bad,” the android nodded. “Fell from space!” Using his good arm, he pointed enthusiastically to the sky. The human raised an eyebrow curiously. 

“Did you now? What were you doing up there?” 

“Space! Got to see space!” 

The younger human, standing nearby, huffed impatiently. 

The older human smiled at the android. 

“The good news is, I think I can still fix your arm. The bad news is that the tools are back at our campsite. You might have to walk with us for a while,” he said. 

“Far from home?” the android asked suspiciously. 

“Not terribly far.” 

The android contemplated this. 

“Not far, and my arm is fixed?” he questioned. 

“That’s right,” the human replied with a smile. 

“Okay,” the android nodded in agreement. The older man gestured, and the younger man, with visible reluctance, stepped forward to offer a hand. The android took it, and the man pulled him to his feet. 

“My name is Nathan. This is my nephew, Bobby,” the old human said. 

“Nathan,” the android repeated. He smiled.

✦

The android sat patiently, looking every which way to observe his new surroundings while the humans retrieved boxes of tools.

“What’s your name? What’s your function?” Nathan asked, setting a toolbox on the ground next to the android. The android thought hard about this. 

“Don’t remember. Just wanna go to space,” he replied, shaking his head. Nathan nodded slowly as he knelt on the android’s right side. Using shears, he cut away what was left of the sleeve and inspected the arm more closely. 

“The memories of AI can be...fickle, without proper maintenance. Alright, then. I’ll just call you...Neil. After the first astronaut,” Nathan said. The android’s face lit up with wide eyes and a massive grin. 

“Neil! First astronaut! First astronaut on the moon!” the android--now known as Neil--cried ecstatically. He didn’t see the disgruntled younger human roll his eyes. Nathan sighed and stroked his beard. 

“Like I said, the damage to your arm is extensive. I can repair it, but it might take a while. And it’ll hurt. A lot, I’m afraid,” he said. 

“Hurt a lot?” Neil repeated nervously. Nathan nodded. 

“You’ve got two options here,” he said, holding up two fingers to help the android understand. “You can sit through the pain, or I can disable the touch receptors in your arm. Permanently. I can cut the wire, but unfortunately I don’t have the technology to undo that.” 

Neil appeared indecisive. 

“You’ll lose feeling permanently. You will still be able to use it, but it’ll take some getting used to,” Nathan explained, all under the fair assumption that the android was never getting back into Aperture for proper repairs. Neil shook his head rapidly. 

“No. Don’t want that,” he said. Nathan nodded. 

“Suit yourself,” Nathan said, picking up a scalpel. A significant portion of the artificial flesh was already scraped away from the accident, but he’d have to make a few incisions here and there. “Try not to move.” 

The second the blade touched his skin, Neil flinched. 

“You’ve gotta stop fidgeting, son,” Nathan said, holding the android’s arm still with his non-dominant hand. The tool pressed into the skin, leaving a slowly oozing droplet of blue fluid in its wake. Neil let out a pained noise. 

“Hurts!” he cried, tensing as if he would jerk his arm away at any moment. Nathan finished the cut. 

“I did warn you,” he sighed. “Are you sure you want to continue like this?” 

Neil hesitated, looking back and forth between his mangled arm and the tools in Nathan’s hands. 

“No more pain,” he decided.

✦ **Three Months Later** ✦

“One of you, come lend a hand with these,” Nathan called from across camp. The old man struggled with an armful of heavy metal piping. With a loud clang, he lost his grip and the pipes began to topple. Before the weight could fall onto the human’s elderly frame, an arm--the skin partially eroded to reveal the metallic sheen underneath--shot out to catch the pipes. The android it belonged to wrapped both arms securely around the piping.

“Thanks, son,” Nathan said with a sigh of relief. “Just lean them against that other pile, there,” he continued, pointing accordingly. Neil grinned and nodded, going enthusiastically about his task. 

“He’s adapted to that arm very well,” Nathan remarked as Bobby approached. The younger man stepped in close and lowered his voice. 

“Nathan, how long do you plan on keeping that thing around?” Bobby began. 

“How long? I haven’t thought about it. He’s good to have around. Always eager to help with something,” Nathan replied with a short chuckle. 

“You know we’re running low on supplies. Chicago’s bad right now. Buyer’s paying less for scraps and charging more for necessities,” Bobby said firmly. 

“What are you suggesting?” 

“That robot’s worth a fortune,” Bobby stated. Nathan looked over to the android cheerfully laying the piping carefully up against a heap of scrap metal. 

“We can’t sell him, Bobby…” Nathan said softly with a shake of his head. 

“The hell we can’t. We’d be set for months...through the winter, even!” Bobby pressed. “You remember last winter? How we got snowed in and couldn’t make the trip for supplies?” 

Nathan hesitated, not taking his gentle gaze from the android. Over the past few months, Neil had become almost like family--he was the first sentient, living AI they’d come across on the surface. It didn’t feel right to trade him like livestock. 

“He’s not human, Nathan. He’s just...more equipment. A glorified computer program. Lights and clockwork,” Bobby pushed further. “If we’re gonna beat the cold weather, we have to leave for Chicago soon.” 

Nathan sighed. His nephew wasn’t...incorrect, technically speaking, but he wasn’t entirely right either. But supplies were indeed running low. Bobby wasn’t remotely wrong about that. 

“Under one condition. The buyer keeps him alive,” Nathan said reluctantly. “We’ll leave in the morning.”

✦

“Where we going?” Neil asked anxiously. He watched as the humans piled junk and scrap metal onto a large hand-pulled wagon wheeled to the center of camp.

“We’re going to Chicago,” Nathan explained. 

“Chicago. Where’s Chicago?” Neil questioned. 

“Far away from here. About a week on foot.” 

“Far away...like space?”

Nathan chuckled, assisting Bobby with tying down the scavenged material. 

“No, not space,” he said. “It used to be a city here on Earth. Not much left of it, I’m afraid. We’re taking a trip there.” 

“Oh! Going to Chicago, then coming back?” Neil asked. Nathan sighed sadly, taking a moment before moving to place a hand on Neil’s shoulder. 

“Don’t tell him anything,” Bobby warned through gritted teeth, tugging to tighten the rope.

“I want to be honest with you, son. You’re...not coming back with us,” Nathan said carefully. Neil stepped out from under the hand on his shoulder. 

“Why?” 

“Nothing bad will happen to you! You’re going to stay in Chicago, that’s all. Someone else will take good care of you…” Nathan said a bit more frantically. Neil furrowed his brow and shook his head. 

“But...too far from home,” he said in a distressed voice, looking vaguely to the east. Towards Aperture. “Don’t wanna go.” 

“Well, you have to,” Bobby cut in firmly, earning himself a scolding from Nathan. 

“No! Don’t wanna go to Chicago!” Neil said loudly. 

“I’m sorry, son, but…” Nathan extended a hand towards the android, and he recoiled further towards the tree line, tears welling up in his eyes. 

“I didn’t know robots could cry. That’s creepy as hell,” Bobby said, his hand wandering to the holster at his belt. “Listen, robot, Aperture isn’t gonna let you back in! We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” 

“Bobby, you’re scaring him more,” Nathan hushed. 

“I wanna stay here! I wanna go home!” Neil sobbed, inching away from the humans step by step. 

“He’s gonna run for it,” Bobby remarked, drawing his gun and pointing it at the android. Neil’s eyes widened in fear. 

“Bobby, put that away!” Nathan put his hands up in attempt to placate both parties, and turned his attention to the android. “Neil, you’ve been immensely helpful. Now, we need your help one more time.” 

Neil met Nathan’s eyes and hesitated. Nathan held a hand out towards the android, encouraging him to accept the offer. Neil shook his head and took a step back. 

_Bang._

The gun went off. Neil, having narrowly avoided the shot, stumbled back. He cast one final, hurt glance, his shock palpable behind the tears, and fled into the trees. 

“Neil! Wait!” Nathan’s voice was hardly audible over the subsequent gunshots that Bobby fired in attempt to keep their prize in their possession. The younger man cursed under his breath and began to pursue the android. Nathan, however, stood in his way. “Don’t hurt him!” 

“Outta my way!” Bobby shouted. “This is all your fault, old man! You just _had_ to be honest, huh? Now he’s gone!” He waved the gun frantically. 

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t betray him like--”

“Like _she_ betrayed your coworkers? Huh? That bot’s one of them. He probably would’ve killed us if he wasn’t so goddamn stupid.” 

“He’s not stupid. And not everything that comes out of that place is evil, Bobby. That android is proof of that,” Nathan said. Bobby rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. 

“If he comes back--if we ever get remotely lucky enough to find another bot--I’m not letting this happen again,” he growled. Nathan nodded slowly, swearing that he could feel the cold, bitter threat of winter on the wind. 

“I suppose you’re right. I taught you well.”

✦

With the setting sun at his back, Neil ran until he hit the pavement of the parking lot. He wandered back to the familiar crater where he’d landed--where he’d started--and sat, staring up at the night sky for a number of hours.

“Hurts,” he muttered, wrapping his arms tightly around his knees and wondering if anyone would be coming.


End file.
